Hello, i have ben modeling for a couple of years now and i was revisiting my old models (by old i mean finished) and i realized, they are very high poly when they really shouldnt be.
Ive recently started working on some projects again and i realized my models are still very high poly, and i was wondering, is there any tool or anything similar that makes models lower poly without destroying the topology, ive tried doing some research but i havent found anything that doesnt just say “use decimate” wich completely destroys the topology.
Short version is, i need help and advice to make my models lower poly, either by using some kind of tool, or just by a new way of making models so they are lower poly.
If necesary i currently model by starting off with a block and working from there.
I’ve been looking for the same answer but didn’t find anything either. I had some high poly models and I wanted to transform them into low poly, and as far as I remember, me too heard some of using decimate modifier, but it didn’t help me the way I wanted it.
So all I can say is just when you modeling something, make sure your model is not high poly when you haven’t finished yet doing your work. Do not add any modifiers that increases the amount of polygons (such as Subdivision Surface).
You’re not the only one who thought something like “Okay, I’ve done a low poly scene” and after some time you decided to revisit that scene again and you’re like “Wait, I thought that should’ve been a low poly model when it isn’t”. I’ve been into same situations many many of times.
Hey, thanks for the reply, ive ben triying to figure this out for a while, and from the testing models ive done, most end up being pretty high poly (50-80k without any detail), ive ben triying new techiques, triying with new shapes to start with, different tools, so far ive made little to no progress wich kinda sucks.
I feel you man, it’s really weird when you’ve done a big project, and ended up that all of your models are actually high poly, and even worse that it’s effects on your render time. Though you can take something good from it all — it’s an experience. You can’t grow up without doing mistakes.
Or…:
There is a reason why the people making low poly models which are recognizable are called artists… it’s an art to make good looking low poly models or in general using just as much as needed to accomplish the look someone wants… it’s something someone needs experience for as in every other craft…
There is no make-it-so button… ( and if then there would by millons… for every possible use case).
I don’t disagree with you at all, you’re entirely right- however, OP asked:
They’ve also expressed interest in what you describe, learning to model low poly, but they’re asking for a tool that will change their topology to be low poly (presumably automatically) without decimation. This is what retopologizers are for
Yes… but sometimes… so… @meen may show an example so that someone could see what maybe is the problem to do some remodeling… ??
For example the (oversimplified ) tip: delete every edge which doesn’t change the outline…
This is an old model wich as of now is deleted, was suposed to be a decently simple, test model, low poly, ended up being something around 50k.
My most recent model (dont have a picture) is basically a remake of this and i hope to atleast lower the polys to 30k.
This one looks exactly like a low poly should looks like.
When modeling, do not add subdivision modifier, because it’s encreases the amount of polygons, thus it aren’t fit if you’re making a low poly model. Instead of using subdivision, you can use Bevel, it’s sorta ths same as subdivision, but without adding extra polygons.
Why reducing polycount is so important to you ? are you planning to make some kind of a game or it’s just about getting good practices ?
Can you show some models with wireframes and without any modifiers just like on that screenshot ?
Basically these polycount numbers doesn’t seem overly exaggerated !
There are tool to reduce the density like the remesh modifier, or the decimate, but they’ll probably do you more harm than good.
You can use that in a 3D scan where you’ll definitely want to reduce the polycount.
When it comes to regular hard surface or organic modeling you need to do that manually.
That way some areas can use more polygons and other can be cleverly reduced.
In the end , you should ask yourself where this is dragging you down ?. Say you need to make a giant scene , polycount might then become an issue.
Once you learned the really basic stuff to avoid, like setting a subsurf level at 10 for no reason,
then reducing polycount will take more time and most of the time it’s not that necessary.
If your scene falls under 2/3 billions triangles it should work fine, even if for sure that an high amount.
My advice is unless there is a good reason to focus on that, start to study the topology guides but don’t focus too much on that yet, unless you really need it.
But by the time you really need that you’ll have more experience !
Well I’m not sure it’s the best way to approach that, maybe start to learn good topology first, and that will lead you to make mesh that are well balanced in polycount.
And as said, keep in mind the context of what you’re trying to do, the lightest geo isn’t necessarily a good thing :
the High poly is generally what you want to do as a basis, the low and mid poly start to deteriorate the mesh and you’ll loose quality when rendering and animating.
Remaking:
With things like the gator in your posted pic you should start with a cylinder not a cube. Eventually you work out the numbers you need - like 16 verts around for the body, but 8 for the limbs (for example). Add the cylinder with that amount - it really helps stop you from going crazy with the face count. And preplanning the amount of vertices helps make joining limbs to bodies easier.
Try watching some sculpters timelapse videos (Flycat on YT is great artist & example). They throw in basic shapes, adjust slightly, then do a remesh to join it all together.
That is actually what im currently doing for the remake, ive also watched alot of timelapses on modeling animals specificly quadrupedal animals because i struggled alot with the legs for a while.
Remaking with a cylinder caused me alot less of a headache than starting with the blocks so fair enough on that.
One of the main issues i have with this is that most models ive seen for games tend to be between 10k - 20k polys for the full thing so i guess thats what makes me want to lower them, so they tend to be in the mid poly side i would guess, but mine even when its a rather basic mesh it always ends up being oddly high.
As you said tho practice would hopefully make this better, this is what ive ben triying to do for the past couple of weeks, still getting used to it tho.
Probably by the time you start to work (unless it’s in 1 or 2 years) rules for poly count will change.
But unless we stop working with polygon what makes a good topology will always stay the same.
Even if as said in the video it depends on the context.
Best is to learn to create good art and stay curious about everything, that hopefully will always be useful even in 20 years !
A few years ago, these numbers would be accurate. More recent games often reach 100k+ per character. Of course, they use levels of detail, so you will only see this highly detailed model for closeups of characters.
If this is the case, then it would be a good idea to match the amount of detail the game being modded can support.
